Tainted Ink
by DrakonHearted
Summary: *NOT SMUT!* It had been fifteen years since Henry left Joey Drew Studios, when he gets a letter inviting him back. But when he gets there, he soon realizes things aren't as black and white as they seem. As he goes deeper into the abyss, he learns more about the dark workings at the old studio he used to love. Rated M for scenes of extreme gore and crass language. Missing Sister AU.
1. Chapter One: The Machine

Fifteen years. It had been fifteen years since I left my best friend's company, Joey Drew Studios in 1942. As a kid, my favorite pastime was drawing, and Joey loved it too. My parents thought of themselves as strict, but it was a little more than that. So, to escape the spoon or belt, my sister Alison and I would hide out in Joey's treehouse with him, drawing. Alison and I looked out for each other, and we were always close. She was two years older than me, being born in 1898.

It was in that treehouse that we came up with the name Silly Vision Studios, eventually that is what we named our company starting out. With Alison, Joey, and I working feverishly, the company grew and was eventually renamed Joey Drew Studios. But the hours were killing me, and one day he said to me he needed me to stay all day every day, even on weekends and that crossed a line. I was getting burned out, and I couldn't continue to work there if it was going to wear me down to only a stub of my former self.

I had left that company, and that town, behind and moved on. Now, I was a detective in the town where I lived. I was visiting my old town because my sister had vanished, and I personally thought the police there weren't doing enough. I was planning to check the workshop for her, and I was about to leave to the studio, when I got a letter in fancy handwriting addressed to me. It read:

"Dear Henry,

The fifteen years since you left have been much harder. I'm not blaming you, I'm doing the opposite. I'm blaming myself. We did our best, but you were always the cornerstone of the company, and in the end, we could never replace you. I pushed this company too hard for a long time and finally pushed it into the ground. Now it can barely stand thanks to Walter Disney. There might be one last way to save it, and I'd like it if you were there. If you can do this last thing for me, come to the studio. I have something I want to show you. Your best friend,

Joey J. Drew"

At this point, I was crying. I might sound overly emotional, but all the years I worked and partnered with Joey and my friends at the studio came back to me in that one moment. All their struggles felt like my fault, and my fault alone. I was going to go back, at least one last time to see if I could save it, and to possibly find out about my sister's disappearance.

The next day, I got on my nicest clothes and jacket and headed out to the studio, taking a small break from my search, and when I got there it felt like coming home. The place was in shambles, just the way I left it. I went to the door and when I knocked, the door swung open. This was not unusual, as the studios had almost nothing on the first floor, and you needed a key to get to the others. As I stepped inside, the floor moaned as if no-one had stepped on it for an eternity, and then the sounds of the old studio embraced me like an old friend.

The door led to a hallway, with posters of the old cartoons on them. That hallway led to a large open room that was where most of the sketches were made. My co-workers and I used to call it the Main Idea room.

In the Main Idea room, a projector propped up against a wall was playing a Bendy: The Dancing Demon episode. Episode 23 "Baby Troubles", to be exact. I remembered making it. It was about how Bendy had to babysit Alice Angel's toddler, but the baby kept getting into all sorts of trouble. Bendy kept freaking out because Alice would kill him if the kid was harmed in any way. In the end the baby wasn't harmed, but as soon as he handed it over, Bendy fell to the ground exhausted. That was always my favorite episode, because I was a rough baby. So, I put my heart and soul into making it.

Bendy was a cartoon demon with no neck, white gloves, black pants, shirt and shoes, a top hat, and a white bow tie. He was short but stout. He always had a huge grin on his face, and a cane. He twirled the cane in almost every episode, then winked to the camera. He was the jokester and prankster, but never meant any harm. He was my favorite character, no question.

Alice Angel, on the other hand, was meant to be the attractive opposite to Bendy, being all style and fashion and no pranks, along with being taller. She had much smaller horns than Bendy and had a halo. She had a dress with a ribbon around the waist and had high heel boots along with leggings. Like Bendy she had big white gloves and a bowtie on her chest.

I chuckled to myself. Joey must have put it on because he knew it was my favorite episode. _Joey_ , I thought to myself. _You haven't changed a bit._ But then something hit me, this episode, someone could have stolen this copy of the episode if the door was just open to anyone! But then I remembered, the company was in shambles, and no-one probably wanted it. That was to me, one of the saddest things.

I remember making the entire thing, from making the sketches to the final frame. I remember putting the music to it and laughing out loud at some of the antics. I remembered watching it with the staff and when it ended cheering at our final product. I remember people buying out tapes and seeing the fan-mail. I missed it. I missed everything. Now they are on the brink of going out of business because of that prick, Walter Disney, and me.

I pushed away thoughts as I went back to my sketching desk. I noticed there were new mysterious pipes running along the walls everywhere, but I wanted to check out my desk first.

It was still there, as I hoped. The thing I really wanted to see was under it. There was a small, loose board under my desk, that led into a small hole. I used to keep stuff there that I didn't want seen or stolen. I took all the stuff out of it before I left, knowing Joey was watching me pack. I was surprised to see something was in there, a note to be precise. It read:

"Hello Henry,

So, you did come back! I'm so glad. I made a few changes to the first floor, that I think you will like. Go right from the main room and just continue forward until you get to what I wanted to show you. There is another note there. Happy scavenger hunt,

Joey J. Drew "

This made me smile. Joey knew I loved scavenger hunts, so he set one up. _Challenge accepted, Joey._ I thought. I went the way he told me, boards groaning as I ran down the hallway. I got to the room; there was a huge hole in the middle of it, with chains leading into the hole. The chains were connected to a mechanism that was supposed to pull up whatever was down there.

It clearly needed power. I found the main battery slots, but the two gigantic batteries there were in there were as fried as KFC chicken nuggets. I took them out and found two more in an open black chest with a gold lock along with another note from Joey titled "Don't read until you have started up the pully."

So, I put it in my pocket, put the batteries in the slots and flipped the switch to start the pully. It made a sound like you'd expect, but much, much louder. What it brought up shocked me.

Connected to the metal chains was a massive machine, much bigger than any other mechanism I've ever seen, with the words "Ink Machine" written in huge letters on the side. It was rectangular with a gigantic spout on one end. I saw that the pipes on the ceiling and the floor all connected to this machine. I took out the letter from my pocket again and it said:

"So, you see it? My magnificent machine. This thing is a beautiful work of both engineering and magic. This can turn fantasy to fact. It will finally make our jobs easier. This is not the end of the scavenger hunt. Find what you need to turn it on. I'll give you a hint- the theater door has opened.

Joey J. Drew"

I knew exactly what he meant. I'd passed a mechanical door on my here that said "Theater" next to it. It was open now, _probably hooked up to the batteries._ I thought.

I contemplated how they managed to pull that off while I went into "Theater" section. The first thing I came across was a desk with a book on it labeled "The Illusion of Living." Its cover art was completely black except for the letters and what looked like white tendrils coming from outside the covers point of view. When I looked at the author my eyes grew owl-eyed. It read "By Joey Drew." I was shocked I never heard of this book. When I flipped to the first page to look for a publication company, there wasn't one. _Oh,_ I thought. _He must have not published it_. I took it with me to ask Joey if I could borrow it when I met him.

I walked farther down the passage and came to a door on my right that said "Employees (and Henry) only!" I stepped inside, and my skin grew pale at what I saw. Bendy had a friend in the cartoons named Boris the Wolf.

Boris was a good friend to Bendy (if you kept him fed) and one of my favorite characters other than the protagonist. He was the tallest in the cast. He ad overalls and white gloves, like Bendy and Alice. He had a large cartoonish muzzle with a big nose and smiled almost always. He also had two sausage ears. In the cartoons, he was almost always playing a trumpet.

In that room, stretched out on a surgery table, was a life-sized replica of Boris. The disturbing thing was that his chest was ripped open. You could see his ribs sticking out, ink dripping from his corpse. He had a wrench sticking out of his chest. I slowly backed out of the room, looking at the table the whole time.

 _Joey must be messing with me, right?_ I thought. I was pretty on edge as I left that room and headed deeper down that hallway. At the end of the hallway I came to a door that said, "Theater Entrance." I opened the door and entered a large theater with a door on the other side.

The theater was big, but not as large as the theater we used to watch the animations we made back in the day. The seats were higher than the other theater, but there were fewer of them. I walked around in that room for a while just surveilling it and taking in new look.

After I got my fill I headed to the door on the other side of the room. I walked through the door and entered a small room. The room contained six empty pedestals, each with a picture above it. The pictures depicted six things: a sketch of Bendy I made a long time ago, a well of ink, a broken battery, the book "The Illusion of Living," and a projector. The final one made me shudder, because I knew where to get it, and that terrified me. A wrench.

In the back of the room there were two things, a lever with a sign above it that read "Ink Machine Power," and a tape recorder and player with a tape already in it. I rewound the tape recorder and pressed play. I recognized the voice as the janitor, Wally Franks with his Brooklyn accent.

"Wally here. If anyone's playing this, you're probably wondering what's going on here. Well, personally, I've got to say that I don't get it. First, Joey installs this big-ass machine above our heads, then he doesn't secure the pipes correctly! Also, get this.

Joey says he needs a "relic" from each of our stations upstairs to "appease the gods." That is _bullshit._ Who needs that much ink anyway? And when he starts it, it floods the whole first floor.

I don't know why the hell he needs that machine, all I know is that Joey is either a fucking mad man, or some sort of mad genius, and I can't see the latter. He is going to flood this entire place someday, and I'm not going to stick around to see that. If that idiot keeps this up, I'm outta here!"

I chuckled as I heard this, because he was the same irascible Wally I used to know, if not a little subdued. I figured the reason Wally's language was toned down was that he knew that anyone could play that tape. Back when I worked here, he was constantly swearing at the people who were mean or full of themselves. Behind Joey's back of course, but not behind mine.

Once, Wally and I were in a break room, and we were talking about employees, when he said

"Hey, you know who makes me _really_ fuckin' pissed?"

"Who?" I asked

"Peter. No-one makes me madder than that guy."

"I agree, he is a bit full of himself"

"A bit?! That d-bag walks around the studio like he is the fucking king of the shit hole, just because he plays Boris! He once said to me in passing "A couple of friends and I made a mess downstairs, clean it up janitor. Oh, and be careful, I have a new suit on. I know you are just a janitor, but I hope you can understand." After that I decided to spill my bucket of dirty water on the ass, and he got mad and told Joey! Joey made me clean up Peter's party room, and his new clothes! Peter had it fucking coming if you asked me."

"Wow, the nerve of that guy."

That was just one of many stories I had about Wally and me, but you get the point.

I looked at the pillars and found the one with the "Perception of Life" book above it. I placed the book on the pillar and it pushed a button down. _Ah,_ I thought. _It must activate buttons that allow me to start the machine_.

Most of the supplies were easy to find, the projector from the theater, the broken battery from the Ink Machine room, the ink well from the room with the projector playing "Baby Troubles," and the sketch from my old desk. After I collected all of those, it was time to get the final item. I really didn't want to get the wrench, but curiosity was overwhelming me.

I entered the room, where gutted Boris was still on the table, dripping slowly. I nervously walked towards him, hands shaking, and took hold of the wrench and pulled. It took a lot of effort to pull out the wrench. The noise was awful, it sounded like a watermelon slowly being cut in half with a butcher knife. When I finally pulled it out with a tug, I tripped back because of how hard I was pulling. Boris's body didn't move, but I was afraid it would.

This whole set up felt off for multiple reasons. One, why would a replica drip ink? Two, who would make something like this? And three, why would a replica make that noise?

The wrench, at one end, was stained permanently with ink. I ran back to the pedestal room and placed the wrench on the last pedestal. I heard a small click from the lever that was to start the Ink Machine. At this point, my heart was beating with a dangerous mix of curiosity and fear. I walked up to the lever, and my heart sped up even more. I swallowed and pulled the lever.

From what I could tell a whirring and splashing sound was coming from the ink machine room. I ran over to the room, but only to be met with three two-by-four boards blocking the doorway. I looked through one of the gaps in the doorway peeking inside. I saw the Ink Machine was running, spilling ink everywhere.

Suddenly, Bendy rose from a puddle of ink, and looked at me, clawing at me viciously. He didn't look normal either, he looked like a demonized, stained, melted version of the animated character I knew and loved. His face was half melted, ink covering his eyes. Half of his mouth was also covered with ink, the other half instead of having normal square teeth, had pointed teeth like our canines. His top hat was overflowing ink onto said eyes and mouth. I didn't get a good look at his body, only his traumatizing face.

Two thoughts crossed my mind at that point. _What the hell has happened since I left?_ And _Run._ I decided to focus on the latter and ran back to the exit. _I should have never come back._ I thought. _I should have never co-._ I saw the exit. I ran to it hoping to get through, but right before I got to the door, the floor gave out and I fell into that abyss.

Luckily, the ink broke my fall, and I survived. I stood up, solidly shaken up, and found a valve connected to a pipe on the wall. I spun the valve and the ink on the floor drained. I saw that there was no way back up, but I was able to proceed down a couple of stairs until I reached a boarded-up hallway. I searched the small room I was in and found two connected metal pipes on the ground I could use as a tool or weapon. I smashed the boards with my new-found tool and got to the door.

Inside was another small room. This one had coffins on the walls, and a pentagram with Bendy in the middle on the floor. The pentagram was blocking the walkway to the other door, so I was forced to walk through it. It was stained with ink puddles blotting out some areas. When I got to the middle, I got light headed. I sat down right there, in the middle of the pentagram, and blacked out.


	2. Chapter Two: Demon's Symphony

When I woke up, a blanket was on top of me. I removed the blanket and stretched. I felt like an old iron door that hadn't been oiled in centuries, stiff and cold. I was where I blacked out, right in the middle of the Bendy pentagram, and there was a bowl of warm soup with a spoon in front of me.

Then something hit me. My family must have been worried sick! I had been gone for who knew how long, and they had no idea where I went! I felt terrible that I hadn't told them where I was going, and now I was gone without a trace, just like my sister.

I snapped out of my daze and had three questions. One; who put the blanket over me, two; who had put the soup and spoon in front of me, and three; why? As these thoughts spun in my head, I cautiously took a sip of the soup. To my surprise, it was chicken soup, and not just any chicken soup.

It was Bendy's Famous Bacon Soup. I remembered getting it in a can at my local corner store. For canned bacon soup, it was astoundingly good. We were one of the best in the business in both animation and the only in the business of bacon soup. One of our staff made _good_ meals, so we hired her to not only do her job at the studio, but also make a soup recipe.

When I finished the soup, I felt warm and reinvigorated. I noticed a piece of paper under the bowl and a napkin. The piece of paper was a note that read:

"Hello. I don't know you (probably) and I don't know for how long you've been sleeping. But you are human (I hope, I can't really tell because you have so much ink all over you), so here is some bacon soup, because you need to eat. Oh, and here's some tips.

1\. If you see the half things just hit them with your pipe. It should only take a couple hits.

2\. If you see human ink things, they will be a little harder than the half things to get rid of.

3\. If you see Bendy, run. Run and hide. Hide anywhere you can. In a closet, in a cupboard, or in that blanket. He doesn't have very good eyesight.

4\. If you see someone hiding or running from you, please don't hit him. He's probably just trying to survive.

That's probably all I have to say, be careful out there.

-_-_- -_-_"

The last line was smudged, so I couldn't make it out. I got to my feet and picked up my metal pipe. I went to the door on the other side of the room and went through the door.

Inside was a hallway with a Bendy cutout that was stained to look like that twisted Bendy that I saw upstairs, with the same pentagram on the wall behind its head at the end of the hallway. I walked up to it, and I was filled with a profound sense of anger. Someone twisted this character I loved so much, into a monstrosity that could kill me! It was my life's work, and someone made it evil. I was so aggravated, I hit the cut-out in the head, smashing it to bits.

A screeched emanated from the doorway behind me. I looked and standing in the doorway was an ink imitation of what looked to be a human. It had a human outline, but it was all just black ink except for its eyes. They were glowing a blinding silver, like stars in the dark night sky.

It screeched again, this time charging me. I dodged out of the way as it ran into the wall full force, ink splattering over the pentagram, which made it scream even louder. This time, I charged at it, swinging my pipe at the ink thing's head. The impact pinched it between the pipe and the pentagram. As I kept pushing the ink creature into the pentagram, its screams got more and more desperate, and it clawed at the pipe. It started melting into ink and its scream became a gurgle as the pentagram got stained with more and more ink. Finally, the pentagram was completely covered with ink, and the monster melted completely letting out one more gurgled scream.

I was breathing like I just ran a marathon as I watched the ink puddle drip slowly into the floor boards. There was a flashlight on the floor under the pentagram, and I grabbed it for later. I turned and headed deeper down the hallway, my throat dry as a desert, my hands shaking like an earthquake. I went farther down the hallway, breathing hard.

I got to a place in the hallway where the floor was flooded with ink. As I sloshed through to the middle, I felt a hand on my leg. I looked down, and there was an ink hand sticking out of the pool of ink. I hit it with my pipe, which made it sink back into the sea of the black liquid. Before another started to emerge, I started running through the ink, dodging hands left and right. When I got to the end, I looked back to see the hands sinking slowly back into the dark abyss.

 _I'm starting to get the hang of this_ , I thought. I got to a room in complete darkness, so I turned on the flashlight. As I looked at the room, I realized where I was. I was in the music studio! A smile spread across my face, as I relived the memories of being down here, listening to the music to go with the animations I made for the first time.

The power obviously was off. I had to find the power switch, but I had no idea where it was because when I was here the power was always on. I turned on the flash light and started looking for a power switch.

In process of searching, I found one of the old break rooms. It was the game room with the pool table in the middle, and chairs around the room. This room had the lights on, unlike the rest of the floor. There was another tape recorder in the middle of the pool table, so I rewound it and pressed play.

"I can't believe it. I got the role of playing Alice, one of the main characters on the Bendy's animations series! I was shocked when I got the phone call saying I won the audition for the part. Joey says I could really go places in this industry, and Alice might even be as famous as Bendy one day, maybe even more so!

I also met one of the guys I'll be working with, Henry. Apparently, Joey says if he wasn't here, this company would fall apart. He's a good guy, and I can't wait to work with him, because he seems to care a lot about his work and his co-workers. I can't wait for the future!"

That was Susie Campbell, the voice of Alice, before Alison took over the roll. She was one of my friends in the studio, and she would always brighten all our days. Susie was the kind of person who always had something nice to say and could sense when you were feeling down. She'd always crack terrible jokes, that made us smile, even if we were upset. She was quite a gal. The memory made me smile.

I left the game room back on the hunt for the power switch. I went upstairs to the small room above the theater that I knew that was there for the projector. I didn't find much up there, but there was another reel in the projector ready to go.

I went back downstairs to a small hallway that was supposed to lead to a fire exit. I opened the door to the hallway, but the exit was down a flight of stairs that were flooded. _Of course._ I thought. _I'm not getting out of here that easy, am I?_ I left the hallway and tried to enter the theater. The door was locked. I turned around and tried to enter the hallway where the workplaces and Sammy's office was. The door was mechanical, and I guessed it closed when the power was turned off.

Samuel Lawrence was a good friend of mine and had been at the studio a long time. He was mostly business, but when any of his employees came in with a cold or any sort of mild illness, he would send them home. He said it would "slow down business," but I knew he just didn't want them to work when they were sick.

Sammy cared about his employees and pushed us all the time to do our best. When he knew we were not going to hit our release date, even though we were going as fast as we could, he would change it to just a little later and then say to us: "Quality should always come over quantity and speed. If the people out there don't like it, then they can go cry themselves a river."

Sammy's voice was surprisingly deep, and confident like he wouldn't be scared by anything. The second one was not true in the slightest. He couldn't watch horror movies, play scary games, or read creepy stories. He hated horror in all size, shape, and form.

I chuckled a bit before looking again for the power switch. I went back to the fire exit hallway and searched around the walls. And there in plain sight on the right hallway wall was the switch. I laughed at myself. I didn't notice it even though it was right there, on the wall with a lightning symbol over it.

I pulled the lever down with some ease, the mechanism crackling with electricity. Turning off my flashlight, I left the hallway. The lights flickered on and off for a few seconds before staying on. I could hear the whir of the mechanical door opening. In the main lobby, there were ink puddles I didn't think were there.

Without warning a half-human emerged from one of the puddles. When I say "half human" I mean just the torso up. The puddle and it moved in harmony, and I gave the thing a whack with my pipe. It stumbled backwards and then came at me again, with the same slow speed. I wacked it again and it melted into the puddle, and the puddle disappeared.

Then three more half-humans came out of the puddles, all coming at me at the same time. _It's not their speed or power that could kill me, it's their numbers!_ I thought. I swung at them fending them off. One by one, I made them sink back into their dark puddles. It wasn't a particularly hard fight, but if there were more of them, then it could have been.

The electronic "recording" sign was also turned on, so I tried opening the theater door again. This time, for some reason, it was unlocked. I went inside. Remembering how many movies we watched in this place filled me with a warm feeling. I saw there were many instruments strewn everywhere, and as I passed the piano, I pressed on a key. It made a high-pitched ding sound, momentarily filling the room with life.

There was a locked mechanical door at the end of the room. I knew this was the door to Sammy's study, where he brainstormed most of his music ideas. I had been in there only once, under Sammy's specific permission. It was a place of pure zen. It had a white noise machine and flowery air freshener. That place was a heaven to Sammy in the heat of his work.

Near that door was a panel of glass behind which was a small room where the voice actors said their lines. This theater was, to me, the life of the entire studio. Where dreams became reality on the silver screen. A place where I could watch my animations flutter to life and become something more than just ink on a slab of paper. _This is where dreams lived, and this is where they_ _died_. I thought.

I walked out of the theater and made my way to the office hallway. I walked to Sammy's office at the end of the hallway, but the entrance was down a couple of stairs. On a shelf near the stairs and surprise, surprise, I found another cassette tape player with a tape already in it. I rewound and played. I was greeted by a familiar Brooklyn drawl.

"Wally here, what in the hell is going on nowadays? Ever since Henry left, the place has been a mad house! Anyways, I think the reason everything's gone down to hell is because Henry left.

Now, I ain't blamin' the guy. He was one of the best of us, and now he's gone to the quantum wind because of Joey! He's the one responsible for all this! He pushes the blame on other people, and then says _he's_ the best for everything! God, it peeves me off!

Also, on another, happier note, after Henry and that projectionist guy left, I get to work the projectors. I always have loved those things, and how they can turn drawings into movin' pictures. The silver screen… it always has been an interest of mine, I'm just terrible at drawing. It's nice getting to use the projector… *sigh* but Joey will probably just get someone else to do it later.

Again, the ink is freakin' _everywhere_ down here! It feels like every five seconds someone needs to tell Sammy to use the pump in his office to drain the it! Sometimes, the ink blocks Sammy's office, and we have to use the pump in the medical bay to drain _that_! The ink is everywhere, and I'm starting to lose my mind! If Joey doesn't do something soon, I'm going to start a damn riot.

Another thing, I might have lost my keys to the closet… again… I'm _so_ going to get fired. I probably lost em' when I was doing trash duty. I'm going to check the trash cans, if I can't find them and Joey finds out I lost my keys again, I'm outta here!"

The entrance to Sammy's office was blocked, so I had to get to the medical bay. I went through the office hallway until I got to the door to the medical bay. It was locked by a combo lock, and I didn't know the code.

Just then, I remembered I told Sammy right before I left to make a tape that told you the combo! I also remembered that I heard Wally say he lost his keys when he was doing the garbage, so I would have to look in the garbage for the keys. It was a long shot, but I had hope.

I shot through the offices, searching the garbage cans for the keys. None of them had the keys in them. There was only one more place to look. The break room. I slammed the door open and searched the can. At the bottom, I saw a shiny, metal ring of keys.

I ran back to the broom closet, key-ring in hand, the keys clinking together. I got to the closet door and inserted one key. No go. I tried another. Nope. I tried one more. That one unlocked the door with a click, and I swung the door open.

A cloud of dusk exploded from the closet, sending me into a coughing fit. After that was over, I looked inside the closet. I moved stuff on a small shelf out of the way to find not one, but two tape recorders on the shelf. I chose a random one and rewound and pressed play. It was by Sammy.

"Just in case anyone forgets, the combo to the med-bay is 4-6-2-1. Remember, 4-6-2-1"

Okay, now I had the combination. 4-6-2-1, that's how I get into the medical bay. I was also curious what the other tape was. I rewound the tape and pressed play. It was Joey.

"Joey here, this a message for those people down at the music department. *Pages Flipping* First, no, I'm not getting rid of the Ink Machine. It is our way to a lot of money.

Next up, some of you are wondering what my final plan for the company _is_ , and I can assure you, it will make all our lives much easier. I cannot wait for when the Ink Machine is fully functional, because it will all be wonderful. It is my… silly vision. Alright, that's all for now, Joey signing out.

*quietly* Switching to side B…"

I listened to the last line a couple of times before I understood. This tape had a side B. That was rare when it was employee recordings, but I guess he is the CEO of the company. I switched to side B and rewound, then pressed play. It was Joey again.

"*Sounds of a grandfather clock ticking* Sheep. All these employees are just sheep. I am their shepherd, and he will set us free. Bringing him to us will require the Ink Machine, and a sacrifice. I will be that sacrifice to bring our Lord and Savior to us.

I will become his body, and he will bring me to a divine plane. He and I will rule this world, together. The change will happen any day now, and then we will set them all free… *sound of maniacal laughter*."

Holy shit. Apparently, while I was gone Joey cracked, and became some sort of demon worshiping advocate. Surprisingly, his crazy plan worked, and he did _something_. I was filled with curiosity and a growing fear of what he had done. I looked around, feeling like I was being watched.

After I collected myself, I listened to the Sammy tape again, to memorize the combo. 4-6-2-1. I closed the closet door and ran up to the medical bay. I entered the code and the door swung open.

The medical bay was nicer than when I was there, with more stretchers and a new poster that read "Smile even when sick", with a Bendy smile above it. I looked for the ink release and I found it, but it was missing a valve. There was an ink trail leading from the pipe to a door with a sign next to it labeled "Sewer", with ink that messily spelled "INK" above the sign.

I sighed and headed into the "ink" sewer. It was a sewer, but instead of water, it was ink. On the walls, there were several messages in sloppily written ink. Some of them were "Don't play god", "He will set us free", and "Dreams do come true".

As I headed deeper into the sewer, I got to a small room that looked like a dent in the wall with a tape recorder on a desk. I rewound and started it.

"Thomas here, the plumber. I wanted to say that Joey's pipes are _nuts_. Joey's pipes could literally burst at any moment, because they aren't properly reinforced.

I offered to reinforce them for a small fee, but Joey says they are scraping pennies together. I replied if I didn't reinforce them, that they would burst and that would be much, much more expensive. Joey though, he doesn't listen to reason. He told me that the pipes could do their jobs just fine, and that there is no reason to reinforce them. I said he was crazy and left the room. I do hope Joey changes his mind about the reinforcements though…"

I only met Thomas once, and he was nice enough with a very fancy, black bowler hat. I moved on deeper into the sewer. I got to a cargo room, with a lift at the far end. In the middle was what I could only describe as a fat ink half-human, holding the valve and wearing a very fancy hat. I figured that he must have stolen the hat from Thomas.

I moved closer to him and he made a very loud screeching noise. I covered my ears. He stopped after a few seconds and I uncovered my ears. Suddenly, about seventeen half-creatures emerged from the ink. I started running back the way I came until I found a small closet in the wall. I jumped inside it and locked the door.

There was a small crack in it, so I could see through the door. The ink creatures started banging on the door ferociously, trying to break it down. Then out of nowhere, Bendy came charging in and ripping the creatures to shreds. Tearing off heads, ripping off arms and punching through torsos. He annihilated all of them, ripping the last one's head off and throwing it at the closet.

Then he started breaking down the door with incredible strength. For no reason I could tell, he started screeching and put his hands on his head. He was charging into the walls, shaking the entire building. Finally, he rushed into the wall one more time, and seemingly teleporting into it.

I took a few deep breaths and waited for what seemed like an eternity to see if Bendy would return. I opened the door slowly and walked out. I started looking for the valve in the sea of ink. Luckily, the valve was floating near the closet. I picked it up and ran back to the medical bay.

I shoved the valve on the bump where it fit and turned it until I heard a draining noise and I ran upstairs to Sammy's office. I opened the door to a familiar sight. I saw Sammy's desk and on that desk his name tag. "Mr. Ricks", it read. Next to his desk was a large metal floor cabinet. Behind his desk was a valve, I walked up to it and turned it. I heard a draining noise from back in the main room.

Just as I was leaving the room, a heard a thump from the floor cabinet, and a very quiet, but audible human groan of pain. I thought another human might be stuck in the cabinet, so I slowly knelt down and opened the cabinet I heard the thump from, and in the cabinet was one of the full ink humans.

I jumped back and got my pipe ready. The ink person actually talked and said, "Please don't hurt me!" I recognized the voice immediately. "Wait… Sammy?!" I asked. Very quickly, the ink human got out of the cabinet while saying "How… how do you know me?" After he got out of the cabinet, I could see that It was Sammy, just made completely of ink.

"Sammy!" I said excitedly. I ran up to him and embraced him. He looked confused, but not mad. "Do... did I know you? I mean when I was human?" Sammy asked. I stopped embracing him and asked "Wait… you don't remember?"

"No, when I got turned into ink, I had a sort of amnesia, so I don't remember much. I'll take your word that you know me though, because you did hug me just now." Sammy stated.

"Oh… OK. Well, I have to leave. Want to walk with me to the fire exit, Sammy?" I asked. "I don't see why not." Said Sammy.

As we walked to the fire exit, Sammy asked "So… what's your name again?"

"Henry." I responded.

"OK, Henry."

"So… how did you get turned into ink?"

"Huh? Oh. Well, I was dragged into the ink machine by the Ink Devil.".

"Who's the Ink Devil? And how many people have been turned into ink?"

"The Ink Devil is Bendy. You've probably seen him at least once or twice. To answer your other question… everyone. Everyone has been turned into ink. Into the Searchers or to the Lost Ones or to the Specials. Humans are non-existent down here."

"What are Searchers, Lost Ones, and Specials?"

"The Searchers are the half human things, the Lost Ones are the full humans, and the Specials are the characters from the cartoon. Most of them all either try to serve Bendy, fear him and are just evil, mindless and evil, or the really rare kind, the good ones. Like me. I'm one of the good Lost Ones."

"What about Bendy?"

"Oh, Bendy is pure, unadulterated, evil. He will kill everyone and put them back through the machine. Over and over and over again, and it's random which type you are each time, or so I think. I'm one of the lucky ones. I've only gone through it once… I think. Anyway, he doesn't spare anyone, not even the ones who try to serve him he kills."

"That is awful, but how does the Ink Machine turn people into ink?"

"Oh, I don't really know how the Ink Machine works, because Bendy usually kills his victim first."

"Oh… OK."

"So, how did you get all the way down here?"

"Oh, I started up the Ink Machine, and Bendy almost got me. I ran for the exit, but right before I got there the floor broke and I fell all the way down here. I found a metal pipe and got to a room with a weird pentagram on the floor in the middle. I passed out, and when I woke up there was a blanket over me and chicken soup in front of me. I still wonder who did that."

"Oh, I did. Did you enjoy the soup?"

"Yes, I did. Thanks for asking. Also, I thought you were stuck in the cabinet, how did you get me soup?"

"I only hid in the cabinet when I heard the ink drain, I wasn't stuck."

"Oh. Sorry for misunderstanding."

"Well, we're here. I'm kind of sad you have to leave, but I understand." Said Sammy.

"See you around, hopefully" I said.

"Bye."

"Bye."

I opened the door to the stairs and at the bottom, was Bendy. "Run! Get back to my office!" Commanded Sammy. I ran after Sammy, Bendy on our tail, to his office. He locked the office door, and Bendy started to punch it down. Sammy patted his pockets and said "God damnit! I forgot the janitor's keys!"

I reached into my pockets and pulled the keys out, and Sammy sighed and said, "You are literally a life saver." He took the keys, and unscrewed the vent using a small screwdriver attached to the key-ring. Then put his hand out as if to say, "After you." I climbed into the air shaft and Sammy followed. At that moment I heard Bendy break down the door and he started chasing us down the vent.

It was pitch black in the vent, so I quickly pulled out my flashlight to light the way. We speed crawled through the vent, then got to a vent door opening.

It led to a smallish room. I got out of the vent, almost blinded by the light. I waited for Sammy, who got out quickly and put a metal vent plate over the vent hole and locked it. "He isn't getting in here." He said as I heard Bendy banging on the plate.

"Welcome to the safe house, Henry." Sammy stated. He walked up to the only door in the room and opened the door, while calling "Oh honey, I'm home!" I walked through the door to see a room with a table at the far end, and someone was sitting at it.

I recognized them immediately. They looked just as I imagined them if they were real and 3D. My mouth was agape. Sitting at the table, tapping lightly on it, was Alice.


End file.
